Metro News & Reviews

Transportation headlines, Friday, Jan. 4

Here is a look at some of the transportation headlines gathered by us and the Metro Library. The full list of headlines is posted on the Library’sHeadlines blog, which you can also access viaemail subscriptionor RSS feed.

ART OF TRANSIT: Kawaguchiko Station in Japan with Mt. Fuji in the background. Photo by Les Taylor, via Flickr creative commons.

There are few specifics from a candidate forum held Thursday night at a Beverly Hills synagogue. The article notes that Councilman Eric Garcetti was the only candidate who outright supported tunneling under the Beverly Hills High School campus for the Purple Line Extension.

There are more details in L.A. Weekly, which reports that Controller Wendy Greuel didn’t take a position — only saying there should be a station in Century City — while Councilwoman Jan Perry said that she didn’t believe the tunnel should go under the school. Kevin James also criticized the planned subway route and Emmanuel Pleitez criticized large rail projects in general, reports the Weekly.

Hey, I just found video of the debate at the Jewish Journal website. The discussion on transportation begins at the one hour, 14-minute mark.

Powerful story on how train operators cope — or try to — after accidents in which subway trains strike people who commit suicide or somehow fall on the track. Such accidents occur on a far more frequent basis in New York than elsewhere, perhaps because of the sheer size of the system and its high ridership.

At one point this past summer, 28 of the agency’s 179 escalators were out of service — called the ‘dark days’ by BART staff. All transit agencies struggle to keep escalators (filled with hundreds of parts) working and BART is now considering canopies to help protect some escalators from the elements. Sounds familiar!

In my opinion those deaths on subway tracks jumps falls or pushes could be prevented if the trains would stop at the front of the platform and then pull forward slowly the same safety procedures are used at amusement parks for roller coaster rides

Easy fix RE; Subway deaths and suicides of jumpers onto the track
Perhaps stop the train before entering the area before the platform look and slowly move forward to platform for loading and offloading this is the same safety procedures used at amusement parks roller coasters rides throughout the USA (stop speeding into train station platforms)

Or just install double doors so that people don’t fall or shoved into the tracks like the music video from Gangnam Style. I mean, seriously, why do we have to keep up thinking all these cooky wild ideas like “go slow before entering the platform” when other countries have figured these things out long ago?

Stop wasting tax dollars and just copy from other countries that get transit right! That’s far more simpler and cheaper solution than keep trying to reinvent the wheel all the time.

It happen again someone was hit by a train at the Vernon station once again this could have been prevented with the stop slow and roll meaning stop before the station platform and slowly roll into loading area once again it the same safety procedure use at amusement parks for roller coaster ride